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Published: December 7th 2015
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The snow lying on the ground was a disturbing development. The joys of lower league football for that afternoon were clearly in doubt. We returned to Nurnberg, where the other half had aspirations to visit the Castle. The city centre was still quiet by UK standards, where all the shops are pretty much universally open. We climbed behind the Albrecht Durer House, which is possibly the most visited location in Nurnberg. It wasn’t on our list though, as we had already seen the works of art in the German Nationalisches Museum. An American couple were frantically asking for English speakers in their bid to the Tunnel Art Gallery. As we had just walked past it, we were able to assist on both counts. The guy shook me the hand, as though we had performed something akin to international rescue.
The crowds were relatively busy at the Castle entrance. It appeared others had been drawn by the weather, after the miserable last few days. The visibility and the view from the Castle area wasn’t great, but it was better than it had been recently. We bought the most expensive tickets – entrance to the Castle, the Tower and the Well. The
Castle is a commercial operation and outside the standard Nurnberg City Museum scope. In retrospect, I think that was reflected in the quality of the offer – a free audio guide for example was missing. The tour of the Castle was just self- guided boards about the history, followed by exhibits of armour. The latter felt like it was packing out the time. The Tower was offered a slightly more elevated view of the city, but not so significantly different from that off the ramparts below. It has an irritating grill, which gets in the way of photography with a decent size lenses. The Well was possibly the pick of the group and included an informative little talk (translated from German). It was seriously deep. Hang on to your glasses and hat, before you peer inside!
We walked back down the hill into the city centre and went our separate ways. The other half had already voiced her displeasure about having any further lower league football imposed on her as “a surprise”, so she was never going to jump at the Bavarian Landesliga opportunity. We didn’t surprise her this time and just told her we had a bit of
business to attend. She headed off for coffee and cake with an intention to look in the New Design Museum thereafter. The Man in the Middle and I set off on the U Bahn in pursuit of a football match. We were only going a few stops beyond our base near Frankenstrasse, but the snow appeared deeper out in the sticks. There was little evidence of anything happening or likely to happen at the Berthold Brecht Stadion out at Langewasser Nord. The goal nets were in place, but the touch lines remained un-cleared and snow covered the grass. A quick heel into the ground showed plenty of give – not frozen then! We walked on further towards the entrance. A few prospective players walked towards us away from the venue. “You are looking to make pictures of football? The camera was a giveaway. “It is not possible. There is no football”. I repeated the heel test for their benefit and enquired why? “They will not let us play was the response. It is not a normal pitch. We want to play. We have come a long way”. Not as far as us, though! The opposition players from Vorwarts Roslau had
travelled 130 kilometres. We pressed on regardless to see a 4G pitch partially exposed from under the snow, where a half-hearted attempt had been made to clear the pitch. Disappointed, we retreated back to the U Bahn. A loud bang broke the afternoon silence. The Man in the Middle was convinced it was an air bag exploding. In the light of recent events, it was as well it happened in the city centre or people might have been running for cover.
The other half had been under strict orders to check for a text in the event of a postponement. As usual, she didn’t and there was no response by the time the U Bahn train arrived in town. I called her and headed off to the New Design Museum. It was only 1 Euro on a Sunday. The Man in the Middle went for an exploration of nearby licensed premises. There was possibly more substance to the building than the content in the museum. However, there was some football. The significance of the experiences of ex-football manager, Christoph Daum and his time in Istanbul with Besiktas was lost on me, but a football theme never the less. The
rest was decidedly underwhelming, although the pick was probably a feature on the design concept differences between East and West Germany. The answer not surprisingly related to the availability of materials – if you don’t have the raw material, you can’t manufacture it. A number of West German firms by all accounts were extremely helpful in sending the raw material over, getting the product manufactured in East Germany and then re-importing it to the West. Everybody was happy. Hard currency for the East Germans. A larger profit for the West German companies. Blissful ignorance for the West German consumer – they still got their hoover or whatever – and it was made in Germany. It just wasn’t the Germany they had in mind!
The sun was shining when we re-emerged into the afternoon. The Christmas Markets were not really open, but a few shed dwellers were exploiting the good folk wandering around by refreshing them with mulled wine. The Old Town vistas were pleasing on the eye. The city centre had taken a hammering at the end of World War 2, so it was difficult to envisage what is the old and the new. The biggest raid in January
1945 destroyed much of the Castle and surrounds. The city apparently was a target, not only for the industry, but also because of the close pre-War association as the focal point of the Nazi Party annual rally. The rally drew crowds not only to the Rally Grounds at the Zeppelin Field, but also to the Old Town. We tend to associate the annual gathering of a political party with a brisk stroll on the promenade at Bournemouth or Brighton. The Documentation Centre Museum we had visited earlier in the week had some fairly surreal footage of the city centre buildings draped in swastikas.
We touched base with the Man in the Middle, who had found his afternoon entertainment in a hostelry. It was quiet in the Bauhaus. Sunday afternoon drinking is perhaps not on the agenda for the average Nurnberger. We had learned our lesson from the previous night and went in search of pork shoulder at Wursthaus Galvani before the kitchen closed.
Appendix 1 Bayern Landesliga Nordost
Dergahspor Nurnberg P - P Vorwarts Roslau Date: Sunday 22 November 2015 at 1400 Hours
Venue: Sportanlage Bertolt- Brecht, Nurnberg Attendance: Nil
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Rainyb
Lorraine Brecht
Love the skinny bottom LOL